The Emperor soon sent another worthy statesman to see how the weaving was getting on, and whether the cloth would soon be finished.

With a great crowd of select followers, amongst whom were both the worthy statesmen who had already been there before, he went to the cunning impostors, who were now weaving with all their might, but without fibre or thread.

to prepare flax for weaving as linen it is softened(technically, "retted") by soaking in water, separated from its woody fibers by beating ("scutched"--this seems to be what Cooper means by "crackling"), and finally combed ("hatcheled")}

The shepherd himself, though he had good reason to believe that the bag held nothing but flaxen thread, or else the long rolls of strong linen spun from that thread, was not quite sure that this trade of weaving, indispensable though it was, could be carried on entirely without the help of the Evil One.

But, as it is not unreasonable to suppose that I may have held its threads with a more continuous attention than anyone else can have given them during its desultory publication, it is not unreasonable to ask that the weaving may be looked at in its completed state, and with the pattern finished.

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